4 ms·

As I understand it mental healthcare as it exists right now literally cannot handle a large influx of patients. Good mental health professionals are often no lo

As I understand it mental healthcare as it exists right now literally cannot handle a large influx of patients. Good mental health professionals are often no longer taking any insurance since the demand is so high and they can not deal with the hassle. So simply doing something like government insurance for everyone will not help the situation.

lotsofpulp 4y ago
> Good mental health professionals are often no longer taking any insurance since the demand is so high and they can not deal with the hassle. Everybody deals with hassle, they just need to get paid for it. People that need mental healthcare have no money to pay for it. Why would smart, capable people go to work in a field where the pay is not commensurate to quality of life at work? Simply doing something like paying people in mental healthcare competitive wages would help. Why would it not? Money serving to incentivize is the basis of our society.
- marcinzm 4y ago
  Given that the US already has the highest health spending per capita I feel dumping more money into it is a horribly inefficient idea. At some point you run out of people to tax to get that money from.
micromacrofoot 4y ago
This defeatist attitude is why only wealthy employed people have access to good mental healthcare right now. We can't throw our hands up in the air and claim it's impossible because there's more than 1 problem. We have to fix both problems.
- marcinzm 4y ago
  Isn't that the point of the original comment that started all this? You can't simply shove a band aid on top of the mental health problem and expect it to magically get better in a year. This is a complex problem that will require a complex long term solution which will itself take a while to show results.
  - micromacrofoot 4y ago
    "Government insurance won't help the situation because other problems also exist" isn't a reason against government insurance. We should have government insurance, and if that creates problems, we should fix those too. It's not unusual for a solution to exacerbate another problem, which can often get it fixed more quickly. If government insurance were to create a shortage of mental health care workers, then one way or another we need to get to more mental health care workers. It would be nearly impossible to wait for a proper number of employees before giving everyone coverage. You'd end up with an excess of supply.
    - marcinzm 4y ago
      >You'd end up with an excess of supply. There's already a lack of supply.
      - micromacrofoot 4y ago
        Yeah but it's an entirely separate problem. If you solved the supply for the current demand, and then gave everyone access... you wouldn't have immediate supply anyway. What's the point of waiting?

lotsofpulp 4y ago

> Good mental health professionals are often no longer taking any insurance since the demand is so high and they can not deal with the hassle. Everybody deals with hassle, they just need to get paid for it. People that need mental healthcare have no money to pay for it. Why would smart, capable people go to work in a field where the pay is not commensurate to quality of life at work? Simply doing something like paying people in mental healthcare competitive wages would help. Why would it not? Money serving to incentivize is the basis of our society.

marcinzm 4y ago
Given that the US already has the highest health spending per capita I feel dumping more money into it is a horribly inefficient idea. At some point you run out of people to tax to get that money from.

micromacrofoot 4y ago

This defeatist attitude is why only wealthy employed people have access to good mental healthcare right now. We can't throw our hands up in the air and claim it's impossible because there's more than 1 problem. We have to fix both problems.

marcinzm 4y ago
Isn't that the point of the original comment that started all this? You can't simply shove a band aid on top of the mental health problem and expect it to magically get better in a year. This is a complex problem that will require a complex long term solution which will itself take a while to show results.
- micromacrofoot 4y ago
  "Government insurance won't help the situation because other problems also exist" isn't a reason against government insurance. We should have government insurance, and if that creates problems, we should fix those too. It's not unusual for a solution to exacerbate another problem, which can often get it fixed more quickly. If government insurance were to create a shortage of mental health care workers, then one way or another we need to get to more mental health care workers. It would be nearly impossible to wait for a proper number of employees before giving everyone coverage. You'd end up with an excess of supply.
  - marcinzm 4y ago
    >You'd end up with an excess of supply. There's already a lack of supply.
    - micromacrofoot 4y ago
      Yeah but it's an entirely separate problem. If you solved the supply for the current demand, and then gave everyone access... you wouldn't have immediate supply anyway. What's the point of waiting?